The eavesdroppers were glaring at Seamus, who looked sheepish at having called out the question Ron had answered, the tips of his ears glowing red. Literally. It was a neat bit of accidental magic that Harry had no time to appreciate.
"So, uh, you heard that, did you?" Neville asked nervously as he looked at his fellow classmates.
Having a new target to direct their ire to, all of the other first years glared at him and the rest of Harry's group.
"The Philosopher's Stone is in Hogwarts?" Padma demanded incredulously.
"Is that why the 3rd floor hallway was off-limits?" Sally-Anne asked.
"So this is what you guys have been up to all year!" Dean exclaimed.
"Crap in a basket," Harry muttered, and Hermione nodded mutely in agreement.
"So, uh, any chance you could forget you heard all of that?" Harry asked hopefully, to which he earned a bunch of head shakes. "Ah. Well, um, I'd love to stick around and explain, but I gotta go."
"Not until you give us some answers, mister!" Sally-Anne declared. "What's going on?"
"Ugh, fine!" Ron groaned. "We found out Snape is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, which Dumbledore hid in the school. There! Happy?"
"Very," Lavender said, grinning widely at the juicy gossip potential.
"Seriously, though? The real, honest to Merlin Philosopher's Stone is here in Hogwarts?" Padma demanded.
"Yes?" Harry replied nervously.
"Whoa," Seamus muttered. "Gold whenever you want it… or eternal life! No wonder that git Snape wants to steal it!"
"Yeah, seems like it," Neville nodded.
"And what exactly were you going to do just now?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow at Harry and his three friends.
"I bet they were gonna go and try and stop him themselves," Kellah guessed.
"How'd you know?" Ron gasped, and the girl rolled her eyes.
"We're Gryffindor's too, ya know. It wasn't hard to think that that was your plan."
"Fine, fine, it's all true!" Harry said impatiently. "Somebody is trying to steal the stone right now, though! So we have to hurry!"
"Why us?" Lavender asked, bringing the Boy Who Lived up short. "Why not warn the teachers or something?"
"I sent Hedwig with a letter to the headmaster, but he's out of the castle right now at the ministry," Harry replied. "And the teachers…"
He then paused. Why hadn't he tried to tell the teachers? He knew what his kneejerk answer would be; they wouldn't do anything. That had always been his experience with teachers and other adults back when he'd lived with the Dursleys. But he wasn't with them anymore. And he was around people who'd believe him. Hopefully, at least.
Harry knew deep down that that was just an excuse on his behalf for not wanting to bring his concerns to the teachers.
So, it was with a deep breath to calm down (and a bit of Occlumency to sort himself out) that he gave a nod at Lavender.
"You're right, Lav. I should have gone to a teacher."
"Oh. Well, I mean, yes, of course I was right!" Lavender said, surprised that he'd actually agreed with her.
"Come on, let's go find Professor McGonagall. She'll know what to do," Harry said.
All of his fellow classmates nodded, and together the ten of them poured out of the dorm and the Gryffindor Tower, and surged towards their head of house's office. Which was also the Transfiguration classroom.
Rather, it was a room attached to the classroom which the First-Years stormed, startling the older woman as they barged in without knocking.
"Professor!" they shouted, before devolving into a babble of words.
"Stop!" she demanded, trying to shout over them, but when that didn't work, she whipped out her wand and uttered, "Muffilato!"
The ten students kept talking, but no words came out of their mouths, and after a moment they realized this and settled down.
"Alright, one at a time, now," Professor McGonagall uttered in a deadpan tone, before flicking her wand, muttered, "Finite," and undid the Muffling Charm that'd kept them silent.
None of them spoke, and she nodded, pleased. "Very good. Ms. Granger, would you care to tell me what is the matter?"
"Well, Professor, we think Sna- somebody is going to try and steal the Philosopher's Stone," Hermione said nervously.
McGonagall blinked in surprise. "Beg pardon?" she inquired. That was not at all what she'd expected. Her eyes then narrowed. "How do you know about that?"
"Um, Hagrid isn't the best at keeping secrets," Hermione admitted. Before hastily adding, "But he never told us directly what it was! We just wondered what Fluffy was guarding, and he told us that it was between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel, and we got curious and looked into who Mr. Flamel was, and-!"
"That's enough, thank you," McGonagall requested, holding up a hand to stall the rush of words Hermione was building up to. The bushy-haired girl nodded meekly, and the professor could feel a headache coming on.
"Ms. Granger… why do you know about Fluffy?" the Transfiguration teacher inquired, wondering if she'd have to have a 'talk' with the Groundskeeper about keeping quiet.
"We found him when we were hiding from Filch," Hermione admitted, causing Ron to gawk at her, Neville to wince in shame, and Harry to slap his forehead in exasperation. She just looked at the boys in confusion. "What? She wanted to know!"
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